Buckle



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.s WJ ww 3 1. PJ 4, P u e p0 .n P A Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNE'EED STATES PATENT OFFICE BUCKLE New York Application May 24, 1950, Serial No. 163,822

(Cl. .Z4-476) 8 Claims. l

This invention relates to buckles. The inVen-. tion is more particularly directed to hook type buckles and wherein suitable indicia in the form of a letter or letters of the alphabet or the like are attachable to the buckle. In a more specic sense, the buckle relates to the hook type and wherein two initials or other suitable indicia are secured thereto or carried thereby and the initials or other indicia are interchangeably associated with the buckle.

In the prior art buckles, the same may be classied in several categories; namely, the usual pivoted tongue type of buckle; the ratchet clamp type of buckle and, in some instances, what might be called a hook type buckle. In these prior art buckles, however, the matter of associating initials or letters or other indicia, interchangeably therewith, presents quite a problem. Various means of applying indicia to the prior art buckles have been resorted to, such as providing an initial or initials with tongues or the like that are attached to the front face or front portion of the buckle, or, where the letters or other indicia are embossed or otherwise formed from the front face or portion of the buckle and, usually, such indicia that are carried by the buckles are more or less permanently associated therewith and not subject to ready interchangeability on the part of the retailer who assembles or associates the initials or the like with the buckle.

In our buckle, we provide a very simple back face or back portion of the buckle which has incorporated therewith and at one end thereof the loop to which one end of the belt is secured andi a tongue which is adapted to be received in any selected opening in the free end of the belt that passes through the buckle, and, where the initials or other indicia, preferably two of which linitials or indicia, are interchangeably, readily and eectively, secured to the buckle by the re.- tailer and in a minimum of time and by an inexperienced person. The initials or other indicia of our invention are such that two of them may be selected from a group of such initials or other indicia, and, by a simple sliding movement, be applied to the rear face or portion of the buckle and, when so applied, the initials or the like will be automatically ai-Tixed to and carried by the buckle, and the said indicia, whether they be in the form of initials, letters or any other suitable indicia, constitute the entire visible front face or portion of the buckle when the same is viewed in full elevation and, with the rear race or portion of the buckle, provides a through passageway for the free end of the belt to pass therethrough and to be secured by means of the aforesaid tongue or other suitable means.

In View of the foregoing, it is an object ci our invention to provide a belt buckle having associated therewith and carried thereby suitable interchangeable indicia.

Another object of our invention is to provide a belt buckle having associated therewith and carried thereby suitable interchangeable indicia, and wherein the said indicia constitute the entire visible front face of the buckle.

Another object of our invention is to provide a belt buckle and interchangeable initials that may be readily associated with the buckle by an inexperienced person and wherein the association of the initials with the buckle is accomplished by a sliding movement and providing means whereby the second or last initial that is slidably associated with the buckle is automatically detachably locked in its association with the buckle.

Another object of our invention is to provide separate and individual interchangeable letters or initials or other indicia that may be readily associated with a rear face or rear portion of a buckle and, when associated therewith, will be automatically locked or held in place and which constitute the entire Yfront face of the buckle, and with the rear face or rear portion thereof., provide a passage means for the free end of the belt to be passed therethrough.

Another object of our invention is to pro.- vide a hook type belt buckle consisting of a relatively few number of component elements or parts and which parts or elements may be fabricated readily in mass production and are capable of rapid and accurate assembly to constitute `the buckle as a whole and the buckle including detachable and interchangeable indicia in the form of letters or the like associated therewith.

Another object of our invention is to provide a hook type buckle, preferably wherein the hook and the bail to which one end of a belt is secured are located or positioned at one end of the buckle, and wherein suitable indicia in the form of initials, letters or the like, and which are interchangeable, are associated with and carried by the buckle.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts herein..- after ully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of our buckle Ywith one end of a belt attached thereto and the free end passing through the buckle and secured to the buckle, and with a part of the free end of the belt being broken away to show the manner of attaching the said other end to the buckle;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the several component elements comprising the buckle in its entirety;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational View of the buckle;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the lines 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the lines 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 isa longitudinal sectional View taken substantially along the lines 6-6 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the rear face or portion of the buckle.

The invention will be more readily understood by referring to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals or characters in the several figures of the drawings all denote the same parts or component elements.

The rear portion or rearface of the buckle is denoted generally at 'I and the overall shape thereof is generally rectangular. This rear portion of the buckle throughout a major portion of its length is substantially channel shaped as indicated at 8 and this includes the raised channel formation C outwardly of which, on either side thereof and integral therewith, there are two lowered or depressed portions 9 and I0 which constitute a part of a guideway or slideway hereinafterreferred to in detail. It will be noted that the formation of the lowered guide or slide way `portions 9 and I 0 results in the formation of shoulders II and I2 at opposite sides of the rear portion of the bucklefor a purpose later described. The channel formation C of the rear portion or face of the buckle merges into a substantially flat extension I3 which is kpreferably cut out as at I4. When the portion I4 is cut out, sufficient metal is left in the back portion to provide a tongue T that is of hooked formation, the tongue being inwardly of and above the cut out end portion I4. The cut out end portion forms a. bail or loop indicated generally at I5, which bail includes an outer bar I6 which is substantially the same width as the width of the rear face or portion of the buckle, and outwardly and on either side of the bail formation, suitable right-angularly extending flanges I'I and I8 which serve to reinforce or rigidify the loop end formati-on and the'tongue of the buckle.

The rear face or portion of the buckle is completed by means of a substantially flat, preferably smooth, rectangularly shaped plate or the like denoted generally at P. This plate includes opposite end portions I9'and 20 and also opposite side portions 2I and 22. The vwidth of the plate C of the back portion of the buckle. When the plate with the recesses therein is engaged with the channel formation of the rear portion of the buckle, and the said recesses 24 have the projections received therein, the interengagement of the recesses and projections serves to properly align orregister the plate P with the back face or portion of the buckle. The plate P and the channel formation C of the rear portion .of the buckle are secured together as by soldering, welding or otherwise secured together, not shown, and when thus secured together, the plate and the rear portion 'I of the buckle are, in eiect, a single unitary structure and may be handled and actually used as such.

The surface of the channel formation C of the rear portion of the buckle is generally flat and smooth, and, when the plate P is secured thereto as by soldering, welding or the like, it will thus be seen by referring to Fig. 5 that oppositely disposed open sided guide or slideways or slots 26 and 28 are formed at either side of the rear portion or face of the buckle.

The plate P is preferably of metal possessing resilient characteristics. A spring tongue S is provided adjacent one side edge of the plate as indicated. The tongue is bent or sprung downwardly and extends into the guide or slideway 26, see Fig. 5, and, of course, the free end portion 2 of the tongue is that portion which depends 0r is disposed in the slideway 26 for a purpose later described. It will be noted that, when the plate P is associated with the rear portion 1, the inner ends of the slideways are closed by the shoulder formations II and I2, the closed end of the slide or guideway providing an abutment or stop for an initial or other indicum that is associated with the buckle and described in detail hereinafter.

The indicia or initials or letters that are associated with the buckle are indicated at 28 and 29. As here illustrated, the indicia are in the form of ribbon design letters R and H. Each initial or letter includes a front visible face portion indicated generally at 30 and 3l and each, of course, has end portions 32 and 33. Each of the end portions continues in the form of rightl angularly extending spaced tabs or flanges 34 and 35. Each of the right-angularly extending flanges 35 terminates in a substantially flat web 36 and each of the flanges or tabs 34 terminates in preferably spaced webs 37 which are connected by means of the narrow strip 38. The webs 36 and 31 are in spaced parallelism with the inside of the letters or other indicia 28 and 29.

The indicia 28 and 29, in the form of the letters or initials or the like, are readily and effectively secured to the rear portion or rear face of the buckle by simply inserting the webs 36 and 3'I in the respective open sided slide or guide Ways 28 and 26' and the first initial, which is the initial H as shown in the drawings, is slid in this guideway until the extreme end portions 39 and 40 of the webs 36 and 3l engage the respective shoulders I2 and II, and this properly stops and positions the rst initial or letter that is engaged'with the rear portion of the buckle. Then, the second letter or initial, here shown as the letter R, is similarly inserted by placing the webs 38 and 3I in the respective open sided guide or slideways 26 and 26 and sliding it toward the first initial H until the extreme edges 40 and 4I of the webs 36 and 3l engage the ends of the iianges on the rst in- Sr'ed initial. which acts as a zone of stop for the second inserted initial, and when the ini.- tials are so positioned, the position oi the spring tongue S is so located that the free end 21 thereof, as shown in Fig. 3, will snap up inliQ the space 42 between the webs 31 and engage behind the edge 4,3 of the web 31 and thus eiectively lock this letter or initial and the other letter or initial in their proper positions with regard to the rear face or portion of the buckle and, when thus assembled, the complete buckle structure is attained.

In order to remove one or both of the initials or letters or other indicia from the rear face or portion 1 of the buckle, and from the guide or slideways 26 and 26', we provide an opening O in the rear portion or face of the buckle and which opening is in registry or alignment with the free end 2l of the spring S which projects into the guide or slideway 26 adjacent one end thereof. To remove one or both of the letters, it is simply necessary to insert a pin or the` like into this opening O and engage the underside of the free end 21 of the spring S and move it out of the guide or slideway so that it will clear the webs 31 on the initials or other indicia.

With this arrangement, it will be understood that, if an initial or indiciaor other letter has been improperly associated with the rear face or portion of the buckle, it can be readily re.- moved even though when associated therewith, it is locked thereon. Thus, the retailer, if a mistake is made, can readily correct it by having the proper indicia or initials associated with the buckle, or, if the purchaser should later decide to interchange another initial lfor one or both of the initials or letters or other indicia on the buckle, this may readily be accomplished.

We have shown only one spring tongue S formed in the plate P but it is to be distinctly understood that a similar tongue may be formed at the other side of the plate and project into or be disposed in the guide or slideway 26' similar to that shown in the slide or guideway 26. Likewise, it is obvious that the plate P may be formed of a similar shape such as the rear or face portion of the buckle and, in that instance, the rear or face portion of the buckle would be substantially nat throughout. In other words, the channel formation C with the depressed portions 9 and i0 may be in the plate P, and the rear portion or face of the buckle denoted generally at 'l may be substantially at and, by this arrangement, it will be seen that the guide or slideways 26 and 26 will ybe formed in the opposite sides of the buckle.

It will be noted particularly from Fig. 6 that the bail or loop end of the buckle denoted generally at I5 is slightly angularly disposed with respect to the horizontally disposed back portion or face of the buckle, the angular disposition being provided so that, when the end of the belt is attached thereto, the buckle and belt are comfortable when about the wearer and, of course, attachment of one end of the belt to the loop or bail structure is readily accomplished.

When the two initials or letters or other indicia are associated with the buckle as hereinbefore described, it will be clearly evident that the inner sides or faces 44 of the initials, with the inner face 45 of the plate P, constitute an open ended through passageway denoted generally at 46 for the free end of the belt.

The buckle is readily attached to the belt or vice versa by simply taking one end portion 4l of the belt B and passing the same in the opening and about the' bar llil which` Yconstitutes the loop or bail of the buckle, and stitching the ref-x versely bent portion of the belt as denoted at d8; thus the buckle and belt are secured together, and it is to be kept in mind that, in lieu of stitching, any detachable connecting of the end 4l of the belt with the buckle may be resorted to and utilized. The free end of the belt 49 is provided with a series of aligned openings 50, the free end of the belt being insertable in the through passageway 136 and any one of the selected open-.f ings 5B can, of course, be readily placed about the tongue or hook of the buckle or, stating it am. other way, the tongue T can readily be entered into any one of the selected openings 50.

From the foregoing, it will be readily seen that, when the initials or other indicia .such as letters or the like are associated with the buckle, and the buckle is attached to the belt or vice versa, and when on display or about the wearer, the front outside face of the letters or other indicia constitute the entire visible front face or portion of the bucklewhen viewed in elevation and the only other remaining portion of the buckle that is seen is the small part of the tongue T that eX.- tends through the opening and this presents a very unique effect in a buckle structure. It is to be further noted that the letters or other indicia that are used are of the cut-out type and that the free end portion of the belt that is behind these letters and in the passageway 46 constitutes a background in the said cut-out portion of the initials or other indicia and this, too, results in a very unique eect of the buckle with the belt or vice versa.

We claim:

1. A belt buckle including a rear channel shape portion and having a bail formation at one end thereof for attaching one` end of a belt to the buckle and a tongue inwardly of the said end for engagement .in an opening of the free end of a belt for retaining the same in the buckle, means affixed to a part of the rear portion of the buckle and constituting therewith open sided elongated slideways at each side of the buckle, indicia provided with integral extensions slidably positioned in the said slideways, resilient locking means positioned in at least one of the said slideways, and the said locking means being in engagement with one of the integral extensions of the indicia and serving to lock the same in it sassociation with the rear portion of the buckle.

2. A belt buckle as dened in and by claim 1 wherein the .rear portion of the buckle is of channel formation and has extensions at opposite sides thereof and which extensions constitute a part of the slideways.

3. A belt buckle comprising front and rear portions, said rear portion including front and rear elements, one of said elements having offset portions and being permanently joined to the other of said elements to provide open sided slots in opposing sides of said rear portion with medial portions of the elements between the slots abutting each other, said front portion including indicia constituting the entire visible front face of the buckle, said indicia having rearward extensions terminating in webs disposed in spaced parallelism to the indicia, said webs being receivable in said open sided slots and held therein from accidental manual removal from said slots, and means carried by said rear portion of the buckle for detachably securing the free end of a belt to the buckle.

4. A belt buckle comprising front and rear portions, said rear portion having slots provided in opposing sides thereof and formed by front and rear elements permanently joined together with portions thereof in spaced relation defining the walls of the slots, said front portion consisting of a pair of letters constituting the entire visible front face of the buckle, each letter having rearward extensions terminating in webs disposed in spaced parallelism to the front face of the buckle, the extensions of each letter having portions thereof providing abutment surfaces spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the distance between said opposing sides of the rear portion, said webs being received in said slots with said abutment surfaces engaging said opposing sides of the rear portion for maintaining each letter from angular displacement, the webs received in said slots being of sufcient. size to hold each letter from accidental manual displacement in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the rear portion, means for attaching one end of a belt to the buckle, and means for retaining the free end of the belt in the buckle.

5. A belt buckle comprising front and rear portions, said rear portion including front and rear elements, one of said elements having offset portions and being permanently joined to the other of said elements adjacent the ends of the latter of said elements to provide open-sided slots in opposing sides of the rear portion with the joint disposed between the slots, said front portion including indicia constituting the entire visible front face of the buckle, said indicia having rearward extensions terminating in Webs disposed in spaced parallelism to the indicia, said webs being receivable in said open-sided slots and held therein from accidental manual removal from said slots, and means carried by said rear portion of the buckle for detachably securing the free end of a belt to the buckle.

6. A belt buckle comprising front and rear portions, said rear portion including front and rear elements, one of said elements having offset portions and being permanently joined to the other of said elements at the medial portion thereof to provide open-sided slots in opposing sides of the rear portion with the joint disposed between the slots, said front portion including indicia constituting the entire visible front face of the buckle, said indicia having rearward extensions terminating in webs disposed in spaced parallelism to the indicia, said webs being receivable in said open-sided slots and held therein from accidental manual removal from'sai'd slots, and means carried by said rear portion of the buckle for detachably securing the free end of a belt to the buckle.

7. A belt buckle including a rear member having integral therewith at one end thereof a bail formation and an upstanding tongue, a plate member, one of the members being of channel formation throughout its length and having ntegral side extensions on each side and in a plane parallel to that of said formation and the other of said members being connected to said one member at the channel formation to form opensided slideways at each side of the rear member, and letters including integral extensions, the extensions of said letters being slidably positioned and held in the said slideways.

8. A belt buckle as defined in and by claim '7 wherein one of the said members has a spring tongue formed therein and the said tongue projects into one of the slideways and serves to engage the extension of one of the letters to lock the same in position on the rear member of the buckle.

JOHN R. WHITEHOUSE. HAROLD C. VAISEY.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,430,682 Pollak Oct. 3, 1922 1,654,805 Hamric Jan. 3, 1928 2,004,406 Harvey June 11, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Great Britain 1901 

